HILLSBOROUGH — Eastern Guilford pitcher Andrew Robinson left his last pitch up in the zone, and he was left to stare in disbelief at the result.

Jon Evans launched a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Orange a 7-5 victory against visiting Eastern Guilford in the fourth round of the Class 3-A state playoffs for baseball Tuesday night.

Orange (25-2) moves into a best-of-3 series in the regional final against Greenville Conley, which defeated West Brunswick 7-6 on Tuesday night.

Robinson’s 1-0 offering was up and away to the right-handed batting Evans, who was able to turn on the ball and transform what had been a 5-2 lead for Eastern Guilford (17-12) into a 6-5 deficit.

“Pitch was on the outer half and the kid somehow raked it and pulled that thing out of here,” White said. “Tip your hat to (Evans). … Leave a ball up, things like that happen.”

Orange tacked on another run on back-to-back doubles by Nick Debo and Andrew Toney against Caleb Robinson, who relieved his brother on the mound.

Eastern Guilford appeared primed for a rally in the seventh inning with Andrew Robinson, Caleb Robinson and Luke Robinson — the Nos. 2-3-4 spots of its order — due up.

But Evans, who pitched the last 2 1/3 innings and allowed one hit, retired the first two batters on a soft lineout to third base and a strikeout. After a walk to Luke Robinson, Evans struck out Marque Johnson to end the game.

It ended an unexpected playoff run for a team that finished in fourth place of the Mid-State 3-A Conference.

“Coming into the season from the past two years, expectations from the community and throughout our conference, they weren’t very high,” White said. “Had a couple losing seasons the past two years, graduated a senior class of nine last year, coming back with essentially a brand new lineup. A lot of people didn’t know what to expect.”

Eastern Guilford center fielder Ryan Hackett fought through the tears to give his perspective on the unlikely season.

“I can look back on it now,” Hackett said. “It was a heck of a run. Never been to the fourth round before, so it’s going to be one that’s going to be remembered.”

One that Hackett, a senior, will remember after going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored — all the while with 11 stitches in his left arm after a collision with a fence during Friday night’s third-round game at Western Alamance.

Page 2 of 2 - “I don’t care if my arm was going to fall off, I was going to play,” Hackett said. “In my sophomore year, I got hit in the head and had a concussion and wasn’t able to play. I wasn’t doing that again. It’s pretty deep. It’s gross and it hurts, but it’s nothing that I can’t play through.”

Orange struck first in the second inning with a two-run, two-out single by Collin Pope. Eastern Guilford quickly answered with two runs in the third inning scoring on Caleb Robinson’s single.

That 2-2 score held firm until the top of the fifth inning, when Hackett scored on a wild pitch and Luke Robinson blasted a two-run home run over the center-field wall.